A Catastrophic Event: The Underground Railroad
Suppose you are a black slave around the mid-1800s. You are tired of being mistreated, disrespected, starved, beaten and doing work for white men for hours upon hours, without breaks and not even a drop of water! The blazing Sun beaming directly on you as if it follows your every move. Looking for even the slightest sign that its setting, the only happy feeling you'll ever get. You're tired of this! In your shed sleeping, you hear a slight, quiet, faint sound. If it wasn't for your light broken down shed, you wouldn't of heard it. "Ahh, it’s probably just a bird". You hear the creak of the door opening. "Hello"? You whisper. "Shh! Who's there? Shh! Follow me"! The unrecognizable shadow says. "I'm here to help you become a free black citizen." "Ok," you say. You're not sure where it is taking you. You follow the now noticeable black woman through a series of paths until you reach a little hut. "How many miles have we ran"? "About Twenty-seven miles" She says. "Can you tell me where I'm going, what I'm doing, and is there a possibility I might die"? "My name is Harriet Tubman, and I'll inculcate you on everything about the Underground Railroad. There is a possibility you could get caught; this is a risky but one shot opportunity." "I'll risk it.” The Underground Railroad started in 1780 and spanned until 1862. The Underground Railroad wasn't really underground, neither was it a railroad. It was just a term that was created to throw off Bounty Hunters (slave catchers) that captured slaves and either killed them or returned them back to their owners. It was also called that because to designate a system of secret networks or escape routes and secret hideouts used by runaway slaves searching for safety as they made their way from the South to the free North. To help these runaways, thoughtful Americans served as "conductors" along these land and water routes stretching out of the South, in and out of the North and safely into Canada. The concept of a system of escape paths out of slavery predates the antebellum era, when the making of train travel inspired the genius appellation "Underground Railroad." During the colonial times, a viable system of escape routes as both a protest and political movements. The "railroad" of these years engaged blacks both free and enslaved, Caucasians, and profusely, Native Americans. The "Underground Railroad" is one of the most important events that occurred in American history. It was a passage of freedom for thousands of slaves that changed our ancestor's lives forever. "During the initial phase, Native American nations like the Tuscaroras aided fugitive slaves as part of their war against the colony of North Carolina at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Tuscaroras and blacks formed a community, first in eastern North Carolina, and then as maroons in the great Dismal Swamp. When the Tuscaroras were invited to join the Five Nations of Iroquois Confederacy, the center for the Native American freedom networks shifted to Iroquois country in colonial New York. After American independence, fugitives could fabricate new identities through the Iroquois bi-national system of encampments. Native Americans in the deep South often accommodated slavery, but on the frontier of planter society they endangered the slave holders enterprise. The outlying Seminole nation, an Afro-Indian people in Florida, took abetting fugitive slaves to its logical limit. Blacks among the Seminoles became not only free but also constituent citizens and soldiers". ("Underground Railroad." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 30 Jan. 2013
Primary
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"Eastern Illinois University Homepage." Underground Railroad Primary Source Set. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
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"Bland, Sterling Lecatur, Jr. Voices of the Fugitives: Runaway Slave Stories and Their Fictions of Self-Creation. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000".
PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
Buckmaster, Hemietta. Let My People Go: The Story of the Underground Railroad and the Growth of the Abolitionist Movement. New York: Harner. 1941.
Secondary
"Underground Railroad - African American History -Research Guides at University of Delaware." Home- Research Guides at University of Delaware. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Underground Railroad Facts, information, pictures I Encyclopedia.com articles about Underground Railroad." Encyclopedia.com I Free Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"primary source set the underground railroad." library of congress teaching with primary sources. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 1931.
Hunter, Carol M. To Set the Captives Free: Reverend Jermain Wesley Loguen and the Struggle for Freedom in Central New York, 1835-1872. New York: Garland, 1993.
1850, however, and Tubman lost her status of. "Harriet Tubman Facts, information, pictures I Encyclopedia.com articles about Harriet Tubman." Encyclopedia.com I Free Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
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"Levi Coffin Facts, information, pictures I Encyclopedia.com articles about Levi Coffin." Encyclopedia.com I Free Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.